


/ 



F 483 


■ 


i .038 




Copy 1 


m 



W|U^-^ 



THE 



BEGINNING 



OHIO COMPANY. 



READ BEFORE THE 



CINCINNATI LITERARY CLUB, 



JUNE 4th, 1881. 



E. C. DA^^VES 



CINCINNATI : 

I'ETEE. <3r. THO^yrsoisr. 

1882. 



THE 



BEGINNING 



OHIO COMPANY, 



READ BEFORE THE 



CINCINNATI LITERARY CLUB, 



JUNE 4th, 1881. 



^ 






CINCINNATI: 

I^ETEI?. C3-. THOnVTSOlT. 
1882. 






'-X. 



/^ 




THE BEGINNING 



OHIO COMPANY. 



The beginning of the year 1783 saw the Revolutionary 
war virtually at an end, although the hnal treaty of peace 
was not signed until September third. The colonies had 
achieved their independence at the price of the lives of many, 
and the fortunes of all, of their defenders. The Continental 
currency, despite the liat of the government, had long since 
ceased to be of value. Since 1780 all army supplies had 
been purchased with interest bearing notes, payable in coin, 
issued by the Qjiartermaster General by authority of Con- 
gress. These were known as "Continental specie certifi- 
cates," and had depreciated to about one-sixth their par value. 
The troops were about to be disbanded ; there was no money 
to pay tiiem. Many meetings were held among the officers 
and man\^ plans for securing the arrearages of pay discussed. 
All conferences came to the same conclusion. The United 
States had no credit upon which to borrow money, no power 
to enforce the collection of a tax, no property with which to 
pay its debts. The onh' apparent resource was the land west 
of the Alleghanies belonging to the Indians, the English claim 
to which had been ceded to the United States by the prelimi- 
nary articles of peace made known in America in March, 1783. 
Even there some of the States claimed prior rights. Hoping 



Jf, The Be^iivnin^ of the Ohio Company. 

hy successful revolution to acquire these lands, Congress had, 
in 1776 and 1780, agreed to give certain amounts to all officers 
and soldiers who should serve through the war or become 
disabled in it. About the tirst of April 1783, Colonel Timothy 
Pickering, then Qiiarterm aster General, drew up the points 
of a proposition, to be made to Congress on behalf of the 
Army, for the formation of a new State, west of the Ohio 
river, as follows : — 

■' Proposition* for settling a new State by such ofticers and sol- 
diers of the Federal army, as shall associate for that purpose." 

" I. That the United States purchase of the natives that tract of 
country that is bounded by Pennsylvania on the east, the river Ohio 
on the south, a meridian line drawn thirty miles west of the river 
Scioto on the west, — this meridian line to run from the Ohio to the 
Miami River, which runs into Lake Erie, — and by this river and Lake 
Erie on the north. 

" 2. That, in the first instance, lands be assigned to the army to 
fulfill the engagements of the United States by the resolutions of the 
i6th of September, 1776, August 13th and September, 30th, 17S0, 
lo-wit : 

To a major-general 1,100 acres 

To a brigadier-general 850 " 

To a colonel 500 "' 

To a lieutenant-colonel 450 " 

To a major 400 " 

To a captain 300 " 

To a lieutenant 200 " 

To a ensign, or cornet 150 " 

To a non-commissioned officer or soldier 100 " 

To the director of the military hospitals 850 " 

To the chief physician and purveyor, each 500 " 

To physicians, surgeons and apothecary, each 450 " 

* Life of Timothy Pickering, Volume i, page 546. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company . 



To regimental surgeons, and assistants to the purveyor and 

apothecary, each 400 acres. 

To hospital and regimental surgeons' mates, each 300 " 

" 3. That all associators who shall actually settle in the new State, 
within one year after the purchase shall be effected, and notice given 
by Congress or the committee of the associators, that the same is 
ready for settlement (such notice to be published in the newspapers 
of all the United States), shall receive such additional quantities of 
land as to make their respective rights in the whole to contain the 
following numbers of acres, to-wit : 

A major-general 2, 400 acres 

A brigadier-general 2,200 

A colonel 2,000 

A lieutenant-colonel 1,800 

A major 1,600 

A captain 1,400 

A lieutenant 1,200 

A ensign or cornet 1,000 

A sergeant 700 

Other non-commissioned officers and soldiers, each 600 

and 50 acres more for each member of a family, besides the head of it. 

" 4. That the rights of the officers in the medical department be 
increased in like manner on the same condition. 

"5. That all officers in the other staff departments, who shall 
actually settle in the new State within the time above limited, shall 
receive rights of land in the proportions last stated, on an equitable 
comparison of their stations with the ranks of the officers of the line 
and the medical staff. 

" 6. That this increased provision of lands shall extend to all 
officers of the line and staff, and to all non-commissioned officers and 
soldiers, who, during the present war, have performed in the whole 
three years' service, whether in service or not at the close of the war, 
provided they present their claim and become actual settlers in the new 
State by the time above limited. 



6 The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 

"7. These rights being secured, all the surplus lands shall be the 
common property of the State, and disposed of for the common good ; 
as for laying out roads, building bridges, erecting public buildings, 
establishing schools and academies, defraying the expenses of govern- 
ment, and other public uses. 

" 8. That every grantee shall have a house built, and acres 

of land cleared on his right within years, or the same shall be 

forfeited to the State. 

" 9. That to enable the associators to undertake the settlement of 
the new State, the United States defray the expenses of the march 
thither, furnish the necessary utensils of husbandry, and such live 
stock as shall be indispensably necessary for commencing the settle- 
ment, and subsistence for three years, to-wit : One ration of bread 
and meat per day to each man, woman and child ; and to every sol- 
dier a suit of clothes annually, — the cost of these articles to be charged 
to the accounts of arrearages due to the members of the association 
respectively. 

"id. That for the security of the State against Indians, every 
officer and soldier go armed, — the arms to be furnishd by the United 
States and charged to the accounts of arrearages. Ammunition to be 
supplied in the same way. 

"11. That a constitution for the new State be formed by the 
members of the new State previous to their commencing the settle- 
ment, two-thirds of the associators present at a meeting duly notified 
for that purpose agreeing therein. The total exclusion of slavery from 
the State to form an essential and irrevocable part of the Constitution. 

" 12. That the associators so assembled agree on such general 
rules as they shall deem necessary for the prevention and punishment 
of crimes, and the preservation of peace and good order in the State, 
to have the force of laws during the space of two years, unless an 
Assembly of the State, formed agreeably to the Constitution shall 
sooner repeal them. 

" 13. That the State so constituted shall be admitted into the 
confederacy of the United States, and entitled to all the benefits of 
the Union, in common with the other members thereof. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 



" 14. That at the above mentioned meeting of the associators, 
delegates be chosen to represent them in the Congress of the United 
States, to take their seats as soon as the new State shall be erected. 

"15. That, the associators having borne together as brethren the 
dangers and calamities of war, and feeling that mutual friendship 
which long acquaintance and common sufferings give rise to ; it being 
also the obvious dictate of humanity to supply the wants of the needy, 
and alleviate the distresses of the afflicted — it shall be an inviolable 
rule, to take under the immediate patronage of the State the wives and 
children of such associators, who, having settled there shall die, or, by 
cause of wounds or sickness, be rendered unable to improve their 
plantations, or follow their occupations, during the first twenty-one 
years. So that such destitute and distressed famihes shall receive such 
public aids, as, joined with their own reasonable exertions, will main- 
tain them in a manner suitable to the condition of the heads of them ; 
especially that the children, when grown up, may be on a footing with 
other children, whose parents, at the original formation of the State, 
were in similar circumstances with those of the former." 

This proposition contains the first known suggestion of an 
appropriation of lands by the government for the support of 
schools and of the prohibition of slavery in the North-west 
Territory. While in its preparation he doubtless consulted 
others, yet in default of a better record, whatever of credit is 
due the originator, properly belongs to Timothy Pickciring. 
In a letter to Samuel Hodgdon* April 7th, 1783, enclosing a 
copy of this plan, Colonel Pickering writes that the proposi- 
tion is in " the hands of General Huntington and General 
Rufus Putnam for consideration, amendment and suggestion." 
On the 14th of April he again wrote Mr. Hodgdon that Gen. 
Rufus Putnam was '' warmly engaged in the new planned settle- 
ment on the Ohio." In General Putnam's hands this plan soon 
took a practical form. On the i6th of June, 1783, he forwarded 

* Life of Timothy Pickering, Volume i, pages 457-461. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 



to General Washington, to be transmitted by him to Congress, 
a petition signed by 288 officers of the Continental line, stating 
that the signers are informed that the tract of country, as de- 
scribed in Colonel Pickering's proposition, is "not claimed as 
the property of or within the jurisdiction of any particular 
State,'' that it is of sufficient extent, ''the land of such qual- 
ity and situation" as may induce Congress to form it into a dis- 
tinct govenmnent in time to be admitted as one of the States. 
They, therefore pra}^ that the lands to which they, and other 
officers and soldiers desiring it are entitled, may be located in 
that district, and that provision be made tor a farther grant of 
land pa3^able in public securities. In his letter* accompan3nng 
this petition. General Putnam refers to the part he has taken in 
promoting it, and the expectation of the signers that he will pur- 
sue measures to have it laid before Congress. He gives at 
length reasons w4iy it should be granted, and expresses the hope 
that the land wall be surveyed in townships six miles square, and 
in calculating the amount available for location of army warrants 
and sales, deducts 3,040 acres in each township for schools, 
ministry and waste lands. June 17th, General Washington 
forv^arded the petition, with a copy of General Putnam's letter, 
to the President of Congress strongly recommending it. The 
matter was referred to a committee, who, on the 29th of the 
followmg October, reported that Congress could not then make 
the appropriation of lands asked for. 

On the 4th of Jul}', 1783, Congress directed the Paymas- 
ter-General to adjust all accounts " between the United States 
and the officers and soldiers of the American Army," and to 
" give certificates of the sums which may appear on such set- 
tlements, in the form and manner w^hich the Superintendent 
of the finances of the United States may direct." The cer- 

* See Walker's History of Athens County, Ohio, for this letter in full. 



The Be£innin£ of the Ohio Company. 9 

tificates were payable in specie, bore interest, and were known 
as " final settlements." 

The presentation of the officers' petition to Congress at 
once brought up the question of Virginia's claim to the terri- 
tor}^ north-west of the Ohio river. This claim founded on 
the conquest of George Rogers Clark had been ceded to the 
United States by Virginia on the 2d of January, 1781, upon 
condition that the territory so ceded should be divided into 
distinct republican States, not less than 100, nor more than 
150 miles square, to be admitted into the Union upon the same 
footing as the other States ; that Virginia should be reimbursed 
for her expenditures in conquering the territory ; that the 
French and Canadian inhabitants who had professed them- 
selves citizens of Virginia should be confirmed in their posses- 
sions and protected in their rights : that one hundred and fifty 
thousand acres of land should be reserved for the officers and 
soldiers of Clark's regiment, who were engaged in the cap- 
ture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes, to be located by them in a 
single tract not more than twice its breadth in length ; that 
sufficient lands between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers 
should be reserved to enable Virginia to fulfill her obligations 
to her Continental troops ; and that the remainder of the lands 
should be the common property of the United States. 

In 1779, Maryland had caused to be entered upon the 
journals of Congress, a declaration " that a country unsettled 
at the commencement of this war, claimed by the British 
Crown, and ceded to it by the treaty of Paris, if wrested from 
the common enemy, by the blood and treasure of the thirteen 
States, should be considered as common property." In 1778 
Newjersey made a similar declaration. June 20th, 1783, New- 
Jersey presented to Congress a protest against accepting the 
cession on the terms demanded by Virginia as being "far 



10 The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 

short of afibrding that justice which is equally due to the 
United States at large/' The cession* was not finally completed 
until March ist, 1784, and then substantially upon the original 
conditions. A committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, 
Samuel Chase and David Howell, was appointed to prepare 
an ordinance for the government of the Western Territory- 
The ordinance as first reported by this committee contained 
an article prohibiting slavery after the year 1800 in any of the 
States formed from the Territory. This clause was stricken 
out and the ordinance without any slavery restriction became 
a law April 23d, 1784. It provided a mode for the temporary 
government of the Territory, divided it into States b}' parallels 
of latitude and meridian lines, in such manner as to make 
about ten States north-west of the Ohio river, specified the 
time, manner and conditions of their admission into the Union, 
and laid down- certain principles to be "formed into a charter 
of compact," as the basis of both temporar}.^ and permanent 
o-overnments. 

Messrs. Jefferson, Williamson, Howell, Gerry and Read, 
were appointed a committee to "ascertain a mode lor locating 
and disposing of lands in the Western Territory." On the 
loth of May they reported an ordinance providing that when 
the Territory shall have been purchased trom the Indians it 
shall be laid off into States and for purposes of sale divided by 
north and south and east and west lines into hundreds of 
ten geographical miles square (each mile containing 6o86y\ 
feet), and these hundreds into lots of one mile square, or 850y\ 
acres each. Public securities and army warrants were made 
receivable in payment for lands. No reservations were made 
for schools or the ministry. Pending the formation of a tem- 
porary government in any of the States to be formed, lands 

"New Jersey voted "no;" South Carolina divided ; Maryland not present. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 11 

therein were to pass in descent and dower according to the 
custom known in common law by the name of gavelkind and 
should be transferable by deed or will proved by two witnesses. 
When a temporarj' government was formed the lands were to 
be subject to its laws and w^ere never in an}^ event to revert to 
the United States. On the day this ordinance was reported 
Mr. Jefferson was appointed Minister to France, and had 
nothing farther to do with any legislation affecting the north- 
west Territor}^. On the 28th of May 1784, the farther consid- 
eration of this ordinance was indefiniteh' postponed. 

On the 5th of April, 1784, General Rufus Putnam 
wrote to General Washington that he w^as still greatly in- 
terested in the settlement of the Ohio country, and had spent 
much of his time since leaving camp in informing himself and 
others as to its nature and situation and the practicability of 
removing there. He expresses the opinion that thousands of 
persons from Massachusetts will remove to Ohio as soon as 
Congress makes provision for granting lands there and settle- 
ments can be made wath safety — provided action is not too 
long delayed. / He asks General Washington to ascertain, if 
possible, the intention of Congress respecting the officers peti- 
tion and that he will recommend some one in Congress, "ac- 
quainted with and attached to the Ohio cause,'' with whom 
he may open correspondence. General Putnam feared to trust 
the Massachusetts members, for though "very worthy men," 
yet the}' might oppose so great an emigration from their State 
— besides Massachusetts had lands of her own to sell. Gen- 
eral Washington* replied from Mount Vernon, June 2d, that 
in his recent visit to Congress, then at Annapolis, his inquiries 



*The letters of General Putnam and General Washington are printed in full in Walker's 
History of Athens County, Ohio. The original of General Washington's letter is in the 
Library of Marietta College. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 



were directed solely to this matter and the establishment of 
peace. Nothing decisive would likely be done as to the offi- 
cers' petition during that session which was to close on the fol- 
lowing day. As the next Congress would be largely com- 
posed of new members he could not then recommend a proper 
correspondent. 

On the 2ist of January, 1785, the United States acquired by 
a treat}' made at Fort Mcintosh, with a part of the Indians 
claiming it, a title to the greater part of the present State of 
Ohio. March ist, 1785, Colonel Timothy Pickering wrote 
Mr. Elbridge Gerry, then a member of Congress from Massa- 
chusetts, asking him what plan will probably be adopted "for 
disposing of those lands which lie north-west of the Ohio." 
Mr. Gerry was about to return home. He enclosed to Colonel 
Pickering a cop}- of the proposed land ordinance of 1784, and 
requested him to communicate his views to Rufus King, also 
a member of Congress from Massachusetts, On the 8th of 
March, Colonel Pickering wrote* at great length to Mr. King 
making various suggestions as to the manner of surveys and 
sales of the lands. He says further that, in looking over the 
ordinance adopted for the government of the Territory, and the 
proposed land ordinance he observes that there is in the first, 
no clause prohibiting slavery, and in the second, "no provision 
made for ministers of the gospel, nor even for schools and 
academies. The latter might have been brought in view, 
though, after the admission of slavery it was right to say 
nothing of Christianity,'''' to introduce slaves into a country 
where none now exist, he declares, "can never be forgiven. 
For God's sake then let one more effort be made to avert so 
terrible a calamity. The fundamental constitutions for those 

*See Life of Timothy Pickering. Volume i, Chapter 36, for his correspondence with 
Gerry and King. 



The Beiinnin£ of the Ohio Company. 13 

States are yet liable to alterations, and this is probably the only 
time when the evil can certainly be prevented." March i6th, 
Rufus King offered in Congress the following resolution which 
was referred to a committee : 

" Resolved, that there shall be neither slavery nor invol- 
untar}' servitude in an}' of the States described in the resolve 
of Congress of the 23d of April, 1784, otherwise than in the 
punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been per- 
sonally guilty ; and that this regulation shall be an article of 
compact, and remain a fundamental principle of the constitu- 
tion between the original thirteen States, and each of the 
States described in the said resolve of the 23d of April, 1784." 

On the 14th of April, 1785, the committee, to whom this 
resolution was referred, reported favorably to its passage. 
On the same day a new ordinance for the survey and sale of 
the western lands was also reported. On the following day 
(April 15th), Rufus King wrote to Colonel Pickering. 

" The best return in my power to make you for your ingen- 
ious communications on the mode of disposing of the western 
territory, is to enclose for your examination the form of an 
ordinance reported to Congress on that subject. You will find 
thereby that your ideas have had weight with the committee 
who reported this ordinance ; and I have only to add, that I 
shall hold myself particularly obliged by your further commu- 
nications on this subject. 

I likewise enclose you the report of a committee on a 
motion for the exclusion of slavery from the new States. Your 
ideas on this unjustifiable practice are so just, that it would be 
impossible to differ from them." 

The journals of Congress have no record of any action 
on the resolution prohibiting slavery after its commitment. 
Soon after this correspondence with Mr. King, Colonel 



IJf. The Be§innhi§^ of the Ohio Company . 

Pickering purchased a large tract of land in Pennsylvania and 
took no further special interest in a settlement west of the Ohio. 

The ordinance for ascertaining a mode for the survey and 
sale of the lands, passed May 20th, 1785. It was much changed 
from that prepared by Mr. Jefferson in 1784, Instead of hun- 
dreds it divided the land into townships six miles square, and 
these townships into sections of 640 acres each. Surveys were 
to be made by a surveyor to be chosen from each State, 
under the general direction of the Geographer Thomas 
Hutchins. As soon as seven ranges w^est from the Pennsvlvania 
line were completed a report was to be made to the Secretar}- 
of War ; one-seventh part of the lands was to be, by him, 
selected b}- lot to fulfill the engagements of Congress to the 
Continental Army, four sections in each township were reserved 
for future sale by the government, one section in each town- 
ship was set apart for the support of schools in that township, 
the remainder was to be offered at public sale, at the price of 
one dollar per acre, payable in specie or public securities at 
par. Township number one, in range number one, was to be 
sold entire, except the reservations stated, number two in the 
same range by sections, and so alternately through the ranges. 

General Rufus Putnam was chosen as the surveyor for 
Massachusetts. Having previously accepted employment 
from that State he was not able then to assume the duties of 
the position, and at his suggestion. General Benjamin Tupper 
was temporarily selected in his place. The surveyors went to 
Pittsburgh in the autumn of 1785, but owing to the hostile 
attitude of the Indians did not go farther. General Tupper 
returned to Massachusetts in January, 1786. The accounts he 
had received while in Pittsburgh concerning the Ohio country 
were such as to confirm him in his intention of removing there 
as soon as possible. Immediately upon his return he visited 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 15 



General Rufus Putnam at his home in Rutland. After a con- 
ference, lasting the entire night, the two united in a call, which 
was published in various newspapers in Massachusetts, January 
25th, 1786, requesting all officers and soldiers in the late war 
who were entitled to receive lands in the Ohio country, and all 
citizens who desired " to become adventurers in that delight- 
full region," to meet in their various counties and choose dele- 
gates to a meeting to be held in Boston, on March first, next, 
with a view to form an association by the name of the Ohio 
Company to purchase lands and effect a settlement. In re- 
sponse to this call eleven delegates, representing eight counties 
in Massachusetts, met at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in 
Boston, March first, 1786. The meeting continued in session 
until March third, when articles of agreement were adopted 
which had been prepared by a committee consisting of Gen- 
eral Rufus Putnam, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Major Winthrop 
Sargent, Col. Brooks and Capt. Cushing. 

By these articles it was agreed to form an association by 
the name of the Ohio Compan}^ with a capital of one million 
dollars in Continental specie certificates, divided into one thou- 
sand shares, of which no one person was permitted to hold 
over five. Each share was assessed ten dollars in specie for 
an expense fund. One years interest on the certificates was 
to be retained by the company for the same purpose. The sole 
object of the association was declared to be, to purchase lands 
in the western territory for the benefit of the company and 
to promote a settlement thereon. 

January 31st, 1786, a treaty was made at Fort Finney 
with the Wyandott, Delaware and Shawnee Indians, by which 
they accepted from the United States certain reservations and 
ceded to them all title or pretense of title to the rest of the 
North-west Territory. 0«-the-8fch-of May following, a detach- 



1 6 The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 

merit of troops under Major Doughty arrived at the mouth of 
the Muskingum river and commenced to build a fort on its 
western bank, thereafter known as Fort Harmar. In July, 
the surveyors under charge of Captain Hutchins commenced 
work. By December, the first seven ranges west from the 
Pennsylvania line were completed. 

Everything now seemed to be in readiness for the contem- 
plated settlement. All adverse claims to the soil had been 
quieted ; a method of survey and sale of the lands had been 
agreed upon and a form of government for the Territory 
adopted. On the 8th of March, 1787, a meeting of the Ohio 
Company was held at Brackett's Tavern in Boston. It was 
announced, that, while but two hundred and fifty shares had 
actuall}' been subscribed, parties could readily be found to take 
the remainder, provided a favorable contract for purchase of a 
compact body of lands could be made with Congress. Rufus 
Putnam, Samuel H. Parsons and Manasseh Cutler were elected 
directors and empowered to treat with Congress. Winthrop 
Sargent was chosen Secretary. In May, General Parsons 
visited Congress. A committee was appointed to confer with 
him. To them he proposed a purchase of lands on the Scioto. 
The shareholders hearing of it were generally dissatisfied, as 
they preferred a location on the Muskingum extending west 
to the Big Kanawha.* 

The location of a million or more acres of land on the 
Scioto, would have covered only the bottom lands on the east- 
ern bank of the Scioto river f and on the Ohio river front. 
Within the tract there would have been no navigable streams, 
and, except Salt creek and Little Scioto, none embracing any 
considerable area of valley lands. A location bounded on the 

* Manuscript of General Rufus Putnam. 

f Until the Virginia Military Lands were definitely located, the lands between the Scioto 
and Little Miami could not be sold. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company, 1 7 



east by the line of the seven ranges, which intersects the Ohio 
river about nine miles above the mouth of the Muskin^rum, and 
extending west to the mouth of Big Kanawha would embrace 
a great part of the Muskingum river and the Big Hockhock- 
ing, both navigable for such water craft as were then in use. 
as well as the rich valleys of Leading creek, Shade river, Lit- 
de Hockhocking, Federal creek, Wolf creek and Duck creek, 
and, because of the winding course of that stream between 
the Muskingum and Big Kanawha, would have the largest 
possible front on the Ohio river. The government had estab- 
lished a fort at the mouth of the Muskingum. The surveyors 
employed on the seven ranges, among whom were such influ- 
ential members of the Ohio Company as General Benjamin 
Tupper and Major Sargent, had given the most favorable 
account of the lands along its waters. Many writers have 
criticized the locadon of the Ohio Company lands as compris- 
ing the most sterile and uninvidng portion of the North-west 
Territory. There is ground rather for surprise, that, in the 
then condidon of things, any other locadon was seriously 
considered. 

No acdon was taken upon General Parson's pedtion. In 
June, Doctor Cutler was requested to go to New York. After 
full consultadons with Generals Putnam and Parsons, in which 
the principles upon which he was to endeavor to secure a con- 
tract from Congress for lands, were setded. Doctor Cutler set 
out upon his journey, reaching New York, July 5th, 1787. 
On the 6th he prepared and presented to Congress the appli- 
cadon of the Ohio Company " for the purchase of lands in the 
western country." A committee, consisdng of Carrington, 
King, Dane, Madison and Benson, was appointed "to agree on 
terms of negodadon, and report." On the 7th and 9th he met 
Thomas Hutchins, "Geographer to the United States," as he 



18 The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 

was styled , who gave him "the fullest information of the west- 
ern country from Pennsylvania to the Illinois," and advised 
him "by* all means to locate on the Muskingum which was in 
his opinion the best part of the w^iole western country." 

When Doctor Cutler arrived in New York, a new ordi- 
nance, drawn bv Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, establishing- 
a mode of government for the western Territory was before 
Congress. It had passed to a third reading May loth ; its 
farther consideration had been temporarily postponed. Owing 
to the lack of a quorum. Congress, after May nth, held no 
meeting again for the transaction of business until July 6th, 
when the ordinance was referred to a committee consisting of 
Carrington and R. 11. Lee, of Virginia ; Dane, of Massachu- 
setts ; Smith, of New York; and Kean, of South Carolina. 
This ordinance simply provided a mode of government for 
the Territory. Peter Force, writing in 1847, thus speaks of it. 
"It had then (July 6th), made no further progress in the de- 
velopment of those great principles for which it has been dis- 
tinguished as one of the greatest monuments of civil juris- 
prudence. It made no provision for the equal distribution of 
estates. It said nothing of extending the fundamental princi- 
ples of civil and religious liberty — nothing of the rights of 
conscience, knowledge or education. It did not contain the 
articles of compact which were to remain unaltered forever 
unless by common consent." When Doctor Cutler presented 
his petition for purchase of lands he was furnished a 
copy of this bill, " with leave to make remarks and pro- 
pose amendments." On the loth of July he returned it, 
having proposed several amendments. On the following 
day the committee reported a new ordinance, the anti- 
slaver}' clause (which had been agreed upon in committee, 

'■■■These quotations are from Doctor (utler's manuscript journal. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 19 

but Mr. Dane feared at first to offer), was added on the 12th, 
and it became a law on the 13th. All of the amendments 
proposed by Doctor Cutler were adopted, except one which 
was that the settlers should not be subjected to Continental tax- 
ation until entitled to a full representation in Congress.* 

This ordinance is the basis of the constitutions of each of 
the north-western States. It ma3% therefore, be of interest 
to compare it with the Jeffersonian ordinance of 1784, which 
it repealed, and to trace the origin of its various provisions. 

The ordinance of 1784 provided that the residents in each 
or any of the new States proposed to be formed might, upon 
application to Congress, obtain permission to form a temporary 
government by selecting the constitution and laws of any of 
the existing States, subject however to alteration by a legisla- 
ture of their own choosing. On obtaining a population of 
twenty thousand, they might call a convention and form a 
permanent constitution and government. Whenever any of 
the States so formed should have, of free inhabitants, as many 
as the least populous of the original thirteen States, it might 
be admitted into the Union. The onl}- conditions were that 
both temporar}^ and permanent governments should be repub- 
lican, and should be formed on certain principles stated to 
comprise a charter of compact. These principles in substance 
were, that the primary ownership by the United States of the 
soil should be recognized, non-resident owners should not be 
discriminated against, the new States should, when admitted, 
assume their proportion of the Federal debt and in all respects 
be upon the same footing as the old States. 

The ordinance of 1787, created the entire north-western 
territory into a single governmental district, subject to future 
division into two. The temporary government was composed 

*Dr. Cutler's manuscript journal. 



20 The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 

of governor, secretary and three judges, appointed by Con- 
gress, each of whom should have a freehold estate in the dis- 
trict ; the governor of one thousand acres ; the secretary and 
judges each five hundred. At first the governor and judges, 
or a majority of them, were to make and execute all laws, 
criminal and civil, to be selected from the laws in tbrce in any 
of the existing States and subject to the approval of Congress. 
When there were five thousand free male inhabitants of full 
age in the district, the governor could direct the election of a 
legislature to consist of one member for each five hundred free 
male inhabitants, until the number reached twent3'-five, when 
the future apportionment was to be made by the legislature. 
No person was eligible for election as representative unless 
he had a free-hold estate in two hundred acres of land in the 
district, and no one could vote unless he held, in tee simple, 
fifty acres. The legislature thus chosen was to submit to 
Congress ten names ; from these Congress was to select five 
to constitute a legislative council. Laws were then to be 
made by the governor, legislative council and house of 
Representatives, in all cases to conform to the principles of 
the ordinance. The governor had an absolute veto power 
and could convene, prorogue or dissolve the assembl}^ at his 
will. When there were sixty thousand free male inhabitants, 
within limits fixed as the boundaries of the States to be formed, 
they might be admitted into the Union with a constitution 
and laws of their own, to be republican and conform to the 
principles of the ordinance. 

The ordinance of 1784 recognized to the fullest extent the 
dogma of Squatter Sovereignt}^ the right of the people 
of the territorj^ to tbrm and regulate their domestic institutions 
in their own way. The ordinance of 1787 as completely 
denied thein any influential voice in legislation. 

iv , 



The Beiinning of the Ohio Company. 21 



The difference is so striking as to provoke an inquiry into 
the causes. These may be found in the growing sentiment of 
• nationaHty, consequent upon the wretched w^eakness of the 
central government then daily becoming more evident and in 
the dangerous situation of the Territory at that time. England 
trom her vantage ground in Canada was waidng and w^atching 
over the border for the disintegration of the Confederacy that 
she might repossess her own. Spain, securely planted at the 
mouth of the Mississippi, looked forward to an early day when 
her power should extend along all of its tributaries. The only 
organized setdements in the territory were at Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes, whose inhabitants were of French descent and, left 
to choose, would naturally prefer the laws and guardianship 
of their mother country. For the protection and defence of 
the common property therefore, it was essential that there 
should be a sovereign power in the common government. 

The form of government adopted is the same (except in 
minor points) as that in the ordinance which passed to a third 
reading May loth, and as heretofore stated was probably 
prepared mainly by Nathan Dane. 

The second secdon of the ordinance provides for the equal 
distribution of estates, and is derived from the proposed land 
ordinance of 1784 which was probably drawn by Thomas 
Jefferson and Elbridge Gerry. Six ardcles of compact to 
remain forever unalterable except by common consent, are 
stated to "extend the fundamental principles of civil and 
religious liberty," and to form the basis "of all consdtu- 
dons, laws and governments, which forever hereafter shall be 
formed in the said territory." The fourth ardcle comprises 
all the ardcles of compact contained in the ordinance of 
1784, except that providing the manner and condition of the 
admission of the States into the Union, and adds a pro- 



^2 The Beginning of the Ohio Company . 

vision that the navigable waters, leading into the Missis- 
sippi and St. Lawrence, and the portages between, shall 
be common highways, forever free to all citizens of the 
United States. The fifth article ; that the consent of Virginia 
being obtained, the territory shall be divided, in a manner 
stated, into not less than three, or more than five States, any 
of which may be admitted on attaining a population of sixty 
thousand free inhabitants. This division into a smaller num- 
ber of States than contemplated in Virgina's deed of cession 
was first proposed by James Monroe, in Congress, July 7th, 
1786. The sixth article forever prohibits slavery except for 
punishment of crime. The first and second articles are taken 
mainly from the Massachusetts constitution of 1780, and their 
insertion here is claimed by Nathan Dane.* They provide 
that no person demeaning himself in an orderly manner shall 
be molested on account of his religious sentiments — people 
with no religion were then unknown to the law — that the in- 
habitants shall be entitled to trial by jvny and habeas corpus, 
a proportionate representation in the legislature, that no cruel 
or unusual punishments shall be inflicted, and that private 
property shall not be taken for public good without full com- 
pensation. The last clause of article second provides that no 
law shall ever be enacted in any manner affecting private con- 
tracts previously in good faith made. The third article de- 
clares that, " Religion, morality and knowledge being essen- 
tial to good government ; schools and the means of education 
shall be forever encouraged," and that the utmost good faith 
must always be observed toward the Indians. The clause in 
the second article concerning private contracts and the whole 

'■'•It IS probable that Carriiigton, of Virginia, had something to do with framing the ordi- 
nance. He was chairman of the committee, and was also chairman of the committee to 
whom the petition of the Ohio Company was referred. He was a warm friend of Doctor 
Cutler, and became the owner of five shares in the Ohio Company. 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company . 



of the third article were unquestionably * among the amend- 
ments proposed by Doctor Cutler. The prohibition of slavery 
was also insisted upon by him on behalf of the Ohio Company. 
The Ohio Company had a direct personal interest in the pres- 
ervation of the obligations of private contracts, and in the 
maintenance of good faith with the Indians. The grants of 
land asked for in their petition to Congress for the support of 
the ministry and the establishment of an University, would 
have been of little value without the mandate to the legislature 
to foster religion and encourage schools. The entire ordinance 
is but the fulfillment of the idea contained in the original prop- 
osition of Timoth}^ Pickering in 1783, that the settlers of the 
proposed new State should, betbre removing to it, tbrm for its 
government a completed constitution, an essential part of which 
should be the total and irrevocable prohibition of slavery. 

On the evening of July loth. Doctor Cutler left New^ York 
for a visit to Philadelphia. Major Sargent who had preceded 
him to New York, remained to watch the progress of the nego- 
tiation. Doctor Cutler returned on the evening of the 17th. 
Ascertaining that the ordinance for the government of the 
Territory had passed in the desired form, he urged immediate 
action upon the petition of the Ohio Company. Much to his 
surprise he found a considerable opposition. He applied to 
Colonel William Duer, Secretary of the Board of Treasury, 
a man of high social standing, reputed great wealth, and the 
intimate personal and political friend of Washington and 
Hamilton, to assist him. On the 19th, Congress passed an or- 
dinance stating terms of a contract for the sale of lands, 
which Doctor Cutler refused to accept. On the 20th, Colonel 
Duer came to him with " proposals from a number of the prin- 
cipal characters of the city to extend the contract and take 

*For a very complete and able discussion of Doctor Cutler's agency in forming the Ordi- 
nance of 1787, see article in North American Review, for April, 1876, by Wm. F. Poole. 



^J}. The Beiinning of the Ohio Company. 

in another company, but that it should be kept a profound 
secret." This phm, as exphiined by Colonel Duer and advo- 
cated b}' Major Sargent, struck Doctor Cutler favorabl\^ That 
evening he spent closeted with Colonel Duer and agreed 
with him to purchase lands for another company if terms 
could be obtained. On the 21st in conversation with mem- 
bers of Congress he offered to renew the negotiation and extend 
the purchase to the Scioto if Congress would accede to the pro- 
posed terms. On the 23d, Congress passed another ordinance 
empowering the Board of Treasury to complete the contract for 
sale of the lands. This ordinance* did not fully accord with 
Doctor Cutlers wishes, but left " room tor negotiation," On the 
evenino- of that dav he found it would much assist the closinij 
of the contract if General St. Clair, then President of Con- 
gress, were appointed governor of the north-western Terri- 
tory instead of General Parsons, as was the desire of the prin- 
cipal members of the Ohio Company. He therefore declared 
to General St. Clair's friends that he would be entirely satis- 
fied to have General Parsons appointed first judge and Major 
Sargent, secretary of the Territory, and that he would cheerfull}^ 
assist in securing the appointment of General St. Clair as gover- 
nor. He also urged the appointment of General Rufus Putnam as 
one of the judges. On the 24th the Board of Treasury enclosed 
to him the resolutions of Congress, and requested to know 
if he was ready to close a contract. As the contemplated 
purchase was now of much greater magnitude than when the 
Ohio Company only was in view. Doctor Cutler requested 
Major Sargent to join with him, though he " had not been 
formally empowered to act." Sargent readily assented. They 
jointly prepared a letterf to the Board of Treasury, stating the 

••■See Ap|)endix. 

■fSee Appendix. _^ 



The Beginning of the Ohio Company. 25 



only terras they would accept. On the 27th, after active work 
on the part of Doctor Cutler, Colonel Duer, Major Sargent and 
all their friends, an ordinance* passed Congress, authorizing 
the Board of Treasury to close a contract on the terms stated 
in Cutler and Sargent's letter "without the least variation." 
When Doctor Cutler received notice of the passage of the or- 
dinance, he went immediately to the Board of Treasury with 
Major Sargent, and after making a general verbal adjustment 
and agreeing upon the 27th of the next October, as the day on 
which the first payment of five hundred thousand dollars for 
the Ohio Company should be made, left Sargent to complete 
what remained to be done at that time and started home the 
same evening. In Doctor Cutler's manuscript journal, from 
which the foregoing account is compiled, under this date he 
writes: "By this ordinance we obtained the grant of near 
five million acres of land, amounting to three and one-half 
million of dollars. One and a half million of acres for the 
Ohio Company and the remainder for a private speculation in 
which many of the principal characters in America are con- 
cerned. Without connecting this speculation, similar terms 
and advantages could not have been obtained for the Ohio 
Company." This speculation was the SciotO' Company. Colo- 
nel William Duer projected it. He had influence enough in 
Congress to secure the passage of the ordinance for the Ohio 
Company purchase, by connecting the Scioto speculation with 
it. Without it Doctor Culler's negotiation for the Ohio Com- 
pany was a probable failure ; with it, it was an assured success 
and upon terms dictated by himself. The "terms and 
advantages" obtained by the Ohio Company more favorable 
than they had a right to expect, fwere, the reduction in price of 

*See Appendix. 

fExcept the location of its lands in a compact body the Ohio Company had no reason to 
expect any terms more favorable than those stated in the ordinance of 1785. 



26 The Beginning of the Ohio Comj)any. 

the lands from one dollar to two thirds of a dollar per acre, 
the admission of land warrants, acre for acre, in payment for 
one-seventh of the gross amount of the purchase, the grant of 
one section in each township in the limits of the purchase for 
the purposes of religion, and the donation of two entire town- 
ships for the endowment of an University. Colonel Duer pro- 
cured a number of subscriptions to the shares of the Ohio Com- 
pany and agreed to assist in making the* first payment to the 
Board of Treasury if it should be necessary. The Scioto 
contract was but an option of purchase, and its life depended 
upon the punctual fulfillment by the Ohio Company of its 
obligations to the Board of Treasury. To protect itself 
against any possible trouble in the future, the Ohio Company, 
by this negotiation, therefore secured beyond peradventure, 
the aid of those who were then the most influential public men 
in America. 

The Ohio Company was now fairly begun. It had obtained 
a contract for the purchase of lands on terms more favorable 
than its most sanguine friends expected. The form of govern- 
ment of the Territory had been revised at its dictation. 
For the first time since the close of the Revolution there was 
peace along the western border. All the conditions of success 
seemed to be fulfilled. 

■'Colonel Duer actually advanced $142,000. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



A. 

[From Journals of Congress, Vol. 4, Appendix, p. 17. J 

July 23, 1787. — The report of a committee consisting of Mr. 
Carrington, Mr. King, Mr. Dane, Mr. Madison and Mr. Benson, 
amended to read as follows, viz : 

That the Board of Treasury be authorized and empowered to 
contract with any person or persons for a grant of a tract of land, 
which shall be bounded by the' Ohio, from the mouth of the Scioto to 
the intersection of the western boundary of the seventh range of 
townships now surveying ; thence by the said boundary, to the 
northern boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio ; thence 
by a due west line to the Scioto; thence by the Scioto to the 
beginning, upon the following terms, to-wit: The tract to be sur- 
veyed and its contents ascertained by the Geographer, or some other 
officer of the United States, who shall plainly mark the said east and 
west line, and shall render one complete plat to the Board of Treasury, 
and another to the purchaser or purchasers. The purchaser or pur- 
chasers, within seven years from the completion of this work, to lay 
off the whole tract at their own expense into townships and fractional 
parts of townships, and to divide the same into lots, according to the 
land ordinance of the 20th of May, 1785; complete returns whereof 
to be made to the Treasury Board. The lot No. 16 in each township, 
or fractional part of a township, to be given perpetually for the pur- 
poses contained in the said ordinance. The lot No. 29 in each township, 
or fractional part of a township, to be given perpetually for the purposes 
of religion. The lots Nos. 8, 11 and 26, in each township, or frac- 
tional part of a township, to be reserved for the future disposition of 
Congress. Not more than two complete townships to be given per- 



30 .Appendix. 

petually for the purposes of an university, to be laid off by the purchaser 
or purchasers, as near the centre as may be (so that the same shall be 
of good land), to be applied to the intended object by the Legislature 
of the State, The price to be not less than one dollar per acre for the 
contents of the said tract, excepting the reservations and gifts afore- 
said, payable in specie, loan-office certificates reduced to specie value, 
or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States, liable to a 
reduction by an allowance for bad land, and all incidental charges 
and circumstances whatever; pi'ovided, that all such allowance shall 
not exceed, in the whole, one-third of a dollar per acre. And, in 
making payment, the principal only of the said certificates shall be 
admitted, and the Board of Treasury, for such interest as may be due 
on the certificates rendered in payment as aforesaid, prior to January 
ist, 1786, shall issue indents for interest to the possessors, which shall be 
receivable in payment, as other indents for interest, of the existing 
requisitions of Congress; and for such interest as may be due on the 
said certificates, between that period and the period of payment, the 
said Board shall issue indents, the payment of which to be provided 
for in future requisitions or otherwise. Such of the purchasers as may 
possess rights for bounties of land to the late army, to be permitted to 
render the same in discharge of the contract, acre for acre ; provided, 
that the aggregate of such rights shall not exceed one-seventh part of 
the land to be paid for ; and p7-ovided further, that there shall be no 
future claim against the United States on account of the said rights. 
Not less than 500,000 dollars of the purchase money to be paid down 
upon closing the contract, and the remainder upon the completion of 
the work to be performed by the Geographer, or other officer, on the 
part of the United States. Good and sufficient security to be given 
by the purchaser or purchasers for the completion of the contract on 
his or their part. The grant to be made upon the full payment of 
the consideration money, and a right of entry and occupancy to be 
acquired immediately, for so much of the tract as shall be agreed upon 
between the Board of Treasury and the purchasers. 

July 23, 1787. — Orde?-ed, That the above be referred to the Board 
of Treasury to take order. 



Appendix. ^^ 

B. 

Letter of Cutler and Sargent to the Board of Treasury. 

[From Journals of Congress, Vol. 4, Appendix, p. 17.] 

''July 26, 1787. 

''New York, July 26, 1787. 
" Gentlemen: 

" We observe, by the act of the 23d instant, that your honorable 
Board IS authorized to enter into a contract for the sale of a tract of 
land therein described, on certain conditions expressed in the act 
As we suppose this measure has been adopted in consequence of pro- 
posals made by us, in behalf of ourselves and associates, to a Com- 
mittee of Congress, we beg leave to inform you that we are ready to 
enter mto a contract for the purchase of the lands described in the 
^cv- provided, you can conceive yourselves authorized to admit of the 
follown^g conditions, which in some degree vary from the report of 
the committee, viz : 

The subordinate surveys shall be completed as mentioned in the 
act, unless the frequency of Indian irruptions may render the same 
impracticable without a heavy expense to the company. 

The mode of payment we propose is, half a million of dollars 
when the contract is executed; another half million when the tract as 
described, is surveyed by the proper officer of the United States • Ind 
the remainder in six equal payments, computed from the day of the 
second payment. 

The lands assigned for the establishment of an university to be as 
nearly as possible in the centre of the first milhon and a half acres of we 
shall/.,/..; for to fix it in the centre of the proposed purchase, 
might too long defer the establishment. 

When the second payment is made, the purchasers shall receive 
a deed for as great a quantity of land as a million of dollars will pay 
for at the price agreed on; after which we will agree not to receive 
any further deeds for any of the lands purchased, only at such periods 
and on such conditions as may be agreed on betwixt the Board and 
the purchasers. 



S'B Appendix. 

As to the security, which the act says shall be good and sufficient, 
we are unable to determine what those terms may mean in the con- 
templation of Congress, or of your honorable Board ; we shall, there- 
fore, only observe that our private fortunes, and that of most of our 
associates, being embarked in the support of the purchase, it is not 
possible for us to offer any adequate security but that of the land itself, 
as is usual in great land purchases. 

We will agree so to regulate the contracts, that we shall never be 
entitled to a right of entry or occupancy, but on the lands actually 
paid for, nor receive any deeds till our payments amount to a million 
of dollars, and then only in proportion to such payment. The advance 
we shall always be under without any formal deed, together with the 
improvements made on the lands will, we presume, be ample security, 
even if it was not the interest as well as the disposition of the com- 
pany, to lay the foundation of their establishment on a sacred regard 
to the rights of property. 

If these terms are admitted we shall be ready to conclude the 
contract. 

We have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, for ourselves 
and associates, gentlemen. 

Your obedient, humble servants, 

MANASSEH CUTLER, 
WINTHROP SARGENT." 

"The Honorable, The Board of Treasury." 

''''July 27, 1787. — Ordered, That the above letter, from Manasseh 
Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, to the Board of Treasury, containing pro- 
posals for the purchase of a tract of land, described in the act of Con- 
gress of the 23d instant, he referred to the Board of Treasury to take 
order ; provided, that after the date of the second payment therein 
proposed to be made, the residue shall be paid in six equal and half 
yearly instalments, until the whole thereof shall be completed, and 
that the purchasers stipulate to pay interest on the sums due, from the 
completion of the survey to be performed by the Geographer." 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 571 663 9 # 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 571 663 9 



Hollinger Corp. 



